


Our Tomorrows Are Revealed

by semimotivatednerds, spectreofstardust



Series: Building #17 [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: ACTUAL FLUFF, All Platonic - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Chan and Jeonghan are brothers, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Roommates, Sibling Bonding, actor!vernon, artist!dk, artist!seokmin, author!wonwoo, chan - who's brother are you?, chan just might kill jeonghan, chef!jun, choreographer!hoshi, college student!lee chan, dancer!hoshi, depending on the day joshua might help, mc!seungkwan, model!mingyu, no crying here, photographer!minghao, producer!jihoon, rapper!scoups, restaurant owner!joshua
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-27 23:12:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16229273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semimotivatednerds/pseuds/semimotivatednerds, https://archiveofourown.org/users/spectreofstardust/pseuds/spectreofstardust
Summary: Chan finally convinced his parents to let him move off campus.  After surviving dorm life, he figures life in an apartment building should be a piece of cake.  Of course, adding his older brother and 11 other guys to the mix isn’t necessarily helping his parent’s peace of mind.  One thing is for sure: His life isn’t going to be boring.





	Our Tomorrows Are Revealed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spectreofstardust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spectreofstardust/gifts).



> Title comes from Seventeen's song, "Highlight"

    Slamming his car door shut, Chan shrugged his backpack up higher.  He grabbed the handle of his suitcase as he turned to face the building in front of him.  This was it, the place that he would be calling home for the next two years. Finally convincing his parents to let him move off campus was one of the best things he had done.  He was sure of it.

    “CHANNIE!”  Jeonghan slammed the door to the apartment building open.  “YOU’RE FINALLY HERE!”

    Chan’s smile froze on his face.  Maybe he should have stayed on campus.  He loved his older brother, he really did, but now that it was on top of him again, the memories of the first decade and a half of life with Jeonghan were coming back.  It wasn’t anything horrible. Chan had just hoped that twenty-four year old Jeonghan had changed a bit from eighteen year old Jeonghan. 

    Obviously not, Chan reevaluated as Jeonghan pulled him in for a tight hug; most definitely ruffling Chan’s hair out of it’s ‘barely brushed’ style that Chan had fixed earlier in the morning on purpose.  

    “Jeonghan, let him breathe.”  Joshua called out from where he was much more sedately following his roommate into the parking lot.  

    “He can breathe,” Jeonghan shouted back.  Chan appreciated Joshua’s aid, really - he would have appreciated it more if Jeonghan hadn’t seemed to tighten his hold at the other’s words.  “Can’t you, Channie?”

    “Increasingly less so, but as of right now, yes.”  Chan said, trying to put a well-placed elbow into his brother’s stomach.  

    “You’ll be fine.”  Jeonghan said, tightening his hold one final time before finally letting Chan go.  Chan nodded a greeting to Joshua, who grinned back as he grabbed the suitcase. Jeonghan pulled his backpack off.

    “I can do it, guys,” Chan protested, trying to get his bags back.

    “Enjoy it today.”  Joshua said, already leading the way back towards the building.  “Once Jeonghan’s good mood wears off, he won’t be helping out with anything.”

    “I’m sorry that I’m tired after a full day of work.  Adulting is hard,” Jeonghan complained. “I don’t have the energy to do chores.”

    “And what do you think I do?  Restaurants don’t run themselves.”  Joshua shot back. Even if Chan hadn’t known about Joshua’s relatively easy going personality, the elder’s open smile would have let him know that he was only teasing.

    “You don’t run the restaurant, you own it.  Don’t pretend otherwise.” Jeonghan said, getting ahead of the other two to pull the door open.  “You’re barely there.”

    Chan watched as Joshua rolled his eyes at Jeonghan’s back, he stifled a laugh.  Joshua turned to Chan. “Speaking of the restaurant, I hope you’re good with leftovers and take out.  I tend to be at the restaurant most nights and leave right around the time Jeonghan gets back, and I’m sure you know about Jeonghan in the kitchen, so we don’t have a lot of cooked meals.”

    “I just don’t see why I should bothering cooking a meal, when you’re bringing back food from a  _ five-star restaurant every night _ .”  Jeonghan complained.  “And it’s really good, even reheated so, I’ll enjoy meals made by actual chefs and get out of making dinner.  I think that this is obviously the best scenario there is.” 

    “I know Jeonghan’s ability in the kitchen,” Chan joked with Joshua.  “And he’s right. This really is the best scenario that you could ask for.  At least you don’t have to worry about the fire department being called.”

    “That happened one time when I was fourteen.  And I don’t remember either of you being any help in that situation.”  Jeonghan’s tone wasn’t all offended, but it was obvious he was still bitter about getting all the blame in the situation.

    “I was ten.”  Chan replied. 

    “I was a guest.” Joshua didn’t miss a beat.  

    Jeonghan huffed instead of saying anything, starting to head up the stairs.  A few steps then a groan. “What did you put in your backpack, Chan? Bricks?”

    “Very expensive bricks,” Chan told him.  “They’re my textbooks.” 

    “Why didn’t you just use a tablet and go for the ebooks?  It’s cheaper.” He paused on a step to catch his breath. “Lighter too.”

     “And there’s the real reason, Mr. Not So Economical,” Joshua seemed to be doing slightly better with Chan’s suitcase.  Or maybe he was just better at hiding it. Or Jeonghan was just being overdramatic. Honestly, Chan knew that all the three were likely.  

    He also knew that Joshua’s insight was correct.  Neither Jeonghan nor Chan had any real worries about money.  Their father’s company went far beyond “doing well for itself” and Jeonghan, on merits of being their father’s son, had a very nice job with a very nice paycheck.

    “I’m economical,” Jeonghan insisted.  

    “You refuse to drink coffee under a certain price.”

    “The other brands taste bad.  Now, don’t talk to me, I need to save my breath.”  Jeonghan tried shutting down the conversation. Joshua grinned at Chan but let it go; very clearly the nicer of the two.  Chan wouldn’t push it either, but that was because he was going to be spending the next year living with his brother. Jeonghan, while usually very nice and welcoming and loving, had a petty streak a mile wide and had been known to hold a grudge when he felt the occasion called for it.  

    The rest of the trip up the stairs and down the hallway went by quickly. Sure, Jeonghan might have overdone his panting a bit on the last couple stairs, but for one who had spent most of his life living with Jeonghan (as Chan had), it was easily ignored.  The hallway was wide and open, only giving a hint of the 3 large apartments it housed. 

    Having been there before, Chan knew the setup of the rather expensive apartment building.  The two main floors held a three bedroom apartment, a two bedroom apartment and a single room apartment each.  The basement floor held the common area, a small gym, laundry machines and another single room apartment. 

    “Here we are: Home sweet home.”  Jeonghan said, stopping in front of the only door on this side of the hallway.  “Go ahead and unlock the door, Channie.” He nodded expectantly at the door.

     “What are you talking about?”  Even as he reached for his key, Chan couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his dramatics.

    “I just think that you should be the one to unlock the door today.  It’s a special occasion, you’re moving in today.” Jeonghan said lightly.  “I’m trying to be ceremonial.”

    “I’ve been moving in all summer,” Chan was patting his pockets now, trying to remember where he had slipped the apartment key when he threw the last of his things together.  He had meant to put it on his keyring, but had obviously forgotten. Jeonghan and Joshua both eyed him warily.

    “Well, the real issue is that Jeonghan forgot his key in the apartment.  Again. Like a fool, I assumed he had his key. So unless you can find yours, we’re locked out.”

    “Not an auspicious start to moving in at all,” Jeonghan murmed.  

    “Already started the moving in process,” Chan reminded him, frowning in thought. He remembered putting it somewhere specific, somewhere it definitely wouldn’t get lost.  Now if he could just remember where that somewhere was. That’s right. “The backpack.” 

    Jeonghan slipped the backpack off his shoulder and handed it to Chan.  Chan let gravity work on the weight of the backpack, (maybe, Jeonghan had had a little reason to complain; those books were heavy) pulling it down to the floor so he could unzip the little cell-phone pocket at the top of the bag.  Sure enough, sitting right there was the nice, shiny apartment key.

    “Found it,” he held it up with a grin.  

    “What a relief,” Jeonghan commented.  “Now, unlock the door and let’s go eat.  We waited for you to have dinner and I’m starving.  Also, welcome to your new home.”

***

    The knocking on the door was a welcome distraction from his unpacking.  Sure, Chan had already done some of it already, but even so, the final finishing touches were driving him crazy.  Yes, he wanted the room he’d be living in to be perfectly arranged to his tastes, but already he was dealing with less space than he was used to - and while he didn’t have too much stuff, there was a slight cluttered look that was not what he had wanted.

    While he knew come the actual start of the semester he wouldn’t be caring at all and was probably going to let the room get  significantly messier, he figured the two weeks before then could be spent trying to cultivate good habits. After moving in yesterday, he had wanted to get everything finished up as soon as possible, but he was getting to the point where the last odds and ends were about to be shoved into a random container that could be stored under his bed for the next year.  

    All in all, it was nice to stop glaring at the poster on his bed that was probably not going to get hung on his wall to go get the door.  He brushed his fingers through his hair and straightened out his shirt on the way, not wanting to make a horrible impression on his new neighbors.  Joshua and Jeonghan said that everyone in the building was very friendly and nice, but he was still a little nervous to be meeting everyone officially.  With everyone’s hectic schedules, he had really only seen people in passing as he moved things in over the summer. 

    Pulling open the door, he was greeted by the smiling faces of two men, probably only a year or two older than himself. 

    “Hello, I’m Mingyu.”  Before Chan had time to speak, the taller of the two was already introducing himself.  He was holding a plate of what looked like a selection of different cookies. He gestured to the shorter man next to him.  “This is Minghao, my roommate.”

    “It’s nice to meet you.”  If his name wasn’t enough, his accent let Chan know that the other was a foreigner.  Instead of being difficult to understand, his soft voice and accented words just made his introduction all the more soothing to hear.  

    “Hi. I’m Chan.”  He introduced himself even though he was sure that the other two knew who he was - he knew both Joshua and Jeonghan were close with most, if not all, of the residents in the building.  

    “We live right down the hall and wanted to welcome you to the place.  I made cookies.” Mingyu held the plate out. 

    Chan took the plate, remembering the manners that had been drilled in to him since childhood.  “Please come in.”

    “We wouldn’t want to inconvenience you,” Minghao said, even though Mingyu had already gone to take a half step forward.  Chan had no problem figuring out which one was the more outgoing of the two. 

    “It wouldn’t be a problem at all.  I’d really appreciate the distraction,” Chan said, opening the door wider to make it clear that his invitation was meant to be accepted.  

    “If you’re sure,” Minghao conceded.  Though by that point, Mingyu already had a foot in the door.  Chan bit back a grin, and nodded happily as they came in.

    He followed them to the open dining area on the other side of the living room set up.  After depositing the cookies on the table, he moved to the kitchen area to put on a kettle for tea.  The two declined water or anything else from the kitchen, so Chan made his way back over to the table to pull out a chair and talk to the two.  

    Minghao pushed the plate of cookies in his direction.  “If they taste weird, that’s normal. Mingyu here is always making low calorie, low fat, low sugar, pretty much low everything because he’s got to look after his figure.”

    “Minghao’s upset because I don’t immediately go for the full sugar and butter recipes Jun uses -” Mingyu wasn’t allowed to finish.  

    “You should.  Jun is actual a chef.”

    “A chef isn’t the same as a baker.”  

    “It’s closer than a model.”  Neither his words nor the argument stopped Minghao from picking up one of the cookies and eating it, so Chan figured that it would be safe to eat one.  

    Chan was pretty sure he wasn’t wrong to assume these were the two Jeonghan had mentioned could get into some pretty interesting disagreements.  He was also sure he remembered it being mentioned that Jeonghan and Joshua had let one of the roommates use the formerly spare bedroom during some of those arguments.

    If the two of them could manage to end up in an argument this quickly, Chan was becoming more sure by the second they were the aforementioned pair.

    “What do you think?  They taste fine, right?”  Mingyu and Minghao were both looking at Chan expectantly.  

    Chan could taste a little bit of what Minghao had been talking about.  There was something about them keeping them from tasting anything like the frosted sugar cookies you’d buy at the store, but overall, “They’re really good.  I’m a fan.” He grinned and reached for another. 

     Before Mingyu could get too triumphant in Minghao’s face, the kettle went off.  Chan was rather grateful for the timing, not wanting his first meeting with the two to end with him in the middle of one of their arguments.  Especially since the room that was offered to them during the midst of those arguments was the one that he was currently living in. 

    With the appearance of the tea, combined with the cookies, the conversation took a turn for more pleasant topics.  Chan found out that Mingyu was a rather well-known model. Minghao was a photographer. Apparently, they had been put in touch through a mutual friend.  

    During the pleasant conversation part of the meeting, it was clear that Mingyu and Minghao could be wonderful roommates, when Minghao’s natural snarkiness and Mingyu’s spunk didn’t clash. However, Chan figured that those two things clashing were just as likely as them getting along so pleasantly. 

    When their visit came to an end, Chan’s invitation for the two to come again was completely genuine.  However as he shut the door behind the two, after getting their promises to come again, Chan let out a sigh of relief.  It was a little exhausting to be sitting there, especially when he wasn’t quite sure what of their teasing was friendly or bordering on slightly more dangerous waters.  

     It will come with time, he reassured himself, reaching for a cookie. 

    “There really is something different about these…”

***

    “Chan,” Joshua called from the living room.  “There’s someone here to meet you.”

    Chan shut his laptop, pushing the papers to the side as he got off the bed.  He sighed - it wasn’t like setting up study schedules was anything new. He’d done it for two years of college already.  It just took so much time and when the new semester hadn’t even quite started yet, it never seemed worth the time it took.

    He exited the room, only to freeze at the entrance of the living room.  Sitting in front of him was none other than Boo Seungkwan, in Chan's humble opinion, one of the best MC’s in Korea.  Seungkwan was fairly new to the scene, only a year or two older than Chan himself, but he had already made a name for himself.  Although there was no way he’d ever say it aloud, Seungkwan was one of his favorite hosts and Chan had gotten through many stressful testing weeks by binging Seungkwan’s shows.  

    “You must be Chan,” Seungkwan jumped up and held out his hand with the bright, friendly smile that he was known for.  Chan hurried to grab it, bowing his head respectfully as he tried to get his thoughts in order. He definitely didn’t want to embarass himself in front of the other man, especially when he was going to be living in the same building. Boo Seungkwan… Chan was living in the same building as Boo Seungkwan.  He was totally going to embarrass himself.

    “It’s an honor to meet you!  I love your shows!” He called it.  The only way it would have gone worse was if his way too excited voice had somehow cracked while he was speaking. Chan never should have left his room.

    Seungkwan, to his credit, didn’t seem too judgmental.  If anything, he seemed rather pleased with the situation.  “It’s always a pleasure to meet a fan!” His grin somehow seemed to grow.  “What’s been your favorite show, so far? I’m always open to feedback.”

    “No, you’re not.  You never take my suggestions,”  Jeonghan complained as he exited the bathroom, towel wrapped around his head.  His hair was nowhere near long enough to warrant it, but ever since it had been (during his one rebellious phase in his freshman year), he’d always worn the towel that way.

    “That’s because your criticism isn’t constructive!  None of the people in this building ever give me actual good, useful criticism.”  Seungkwan’s tone was definitely whining. Chan couldn’t believe it. Boo Seungkwan was whining in his living room, because Chan’s brother was complaining to him.  He wasn’t sure if this was the best day or the strangest day of his life. 

    Crooking a finger, Seungkwan turned to Chan.  “You’re my last hope here, don’t let me down.”

    Before Chan could even reply, Jeonghan was already protesting.  “Don’t turn my brother against me! He’s on my side - get your own brother!”

    Joshua was laughing - Chan didn’t appreciate the lack of aid he was getting.  Joshua was supposed to be the nice one. “You’re possessive side is showing.”

    Jeonghan ignored his best friend to turn to Chan.  “Who’s brother are you?”

    Chan groaned.  “Please not this again, Jeonghan.”

    Jeonghan stood firm.  “Channie, who’s brother are you?”

    Chan sighed.  There was only one way to put an end to this since Joshua clearly wasn’t going to be any help.  “Yours.” There was a pause, Jeonghan still looked at him expectantly. “I’m Jeonghan’s brother.”  

    Jeonghan grinned triumphantly.  His brother could be a real jerk sometimes, Chan thought.  “Why do you always make me do this? It’s getting embarrassing!”

    Like Joshua, Chan was ignored.  Jeonghan turned to Seungkwan. “See, he’s on my side. You’re not going to turn him against me.”

    Seungkwan grinned slyly.  “Sure, I might not be able to, but I have a feeling that you’ll do that all on your own.”  Neither Chan nor, apparently, Joshua felt inclined to hold in their laughter at Jeonghan’s frustrated shout.

    “Yah, get out of my apartment.”  Jeonghan pointed to the door. He tossed his head hard enough to shake the towel to the side causing it to start slipping off.  The other three only laughed harder. 

    “Ah, I can see I’m not welcome here, so I’ll just take my leave,” Seungkwan joked once he got his laughter under control.  “I need Jeonghan to realize that there’s no one on his side.” Jeonghan huffed. Though his upset facade didn’t break, there was an amused glint in his eyes.  

    “You just don’t want to get Jeonghan even more upset with you,” Joshua said.  Seungkwan shrugged.

    “I’m not stupid.”  He turned to Chan. “It was nice meeting you.  I’m sure once Jeonghan’s calmed down, I’ll be seeing you around.”  

    Jeonghan sniffed.  “Don’t count on it.”  

    Even before Seungkwan had left, Jeonghan was turning back to Chan.  “You better not forget who’s brother you are, Channie.”

    Chan beat a hasty retreat back to his room before Jeonghan could pull out any more embarrassing things from their childhood.  

***

    There was still half a week before school started back up for Chan and the boredom was killing him.  Most of his other school friends hadn’t moved back to the area yet and his friends from home were too far to hang out with just for a couple of days.  While the people he had met in the building so far (all three of them) were very pleasant and friendly and willing to hang out, like his two roommates, they had work.  As a result, that significantly impacted the amount of time they could drop by during the day. 

    Chan was also sure that Mingyu was gearing up for a show because the low calorie cookies were just the tip of the iceberg.  Minghao had already stopped by the apartment several times to bribe Chan with foods that weren’t under 100 calories, so that he could eat them in peace.  Chan had learned that Mingyu really did enjoy the sweet, unhealthy treats so, as a result, they were banned during the times that he had shows. 

    Overall, Chan had spent far too long laying on his bed watching Netflix and stupid Youtube videos, trying to stave off his death by boredom.  He was getting excited for school to start again. He rolled over, scowling as he looked at the bag of chips laying next to him. Was he even hungry?  

    The answer was yes.  Yes, he was hungry, but not for the bagged food that he had been stuffing himself with during his drama binges.  Joshua had left for a family vacation earlier in the week, so there was no more food from his restaurant in the fridge.  Since Jeonghan never felt the motivation to cook (and there was a set in stone list of appliances he was allowed to use in the kitchen -  the microwave, toaster, and dishwasher were the list), there was no help from that corner. It had just gotten easier for Chan to get frozen dishes to heat up for him and his brother.  

    Despite it being easier, though, Chan was coming to the end of his tolerance for the highly processed foods that he had been ingesting.  He could tell that his body was probably about to start protesting in some different way, but was finding it hard to make himself care. He was just. so. bored. 

    He heard the front door open and the sound of voices.  Chan sat up eagerly. Unless the past week of cheap food had made Jeonghan go crazy, there must be someone out there with Jeonghan.  

    If someone was out there, Chan could probably convince Jeonghan to put in the effort to actually go out for dinner since it wasn’t just the two of them.  With the potential promise of real food, Chan was scrambling off his bed. If he could make it out there before Jeonghan pulled out a frozen pizza, he could probably get the other person on his side.  

    “Channie,” Jeonghan said he exited the room.  “Meet Jun.” He nodded to the man coming in behind him, his hands filled with grocery bags.  Jun nodded in greeting, his hands full as well.

    “It’s nice to meet you, Chan.”  Jun had the same accent as Minghao.  He tried to place the information that Mingyu and Minghao had definitely shared about the other man.  His mind focused on the grocery bags.

    “Jun wanted to meet you and also offered to cook dinner.  There’s no way that I could turn him down,” Jeonghan let the bags drop on the kitchen counter.  Jun placed his down more gently. A chef. That was it. Jun was definitely the chef that Minghao had mentioned - often in comparison to Mingyu’s own cooking.  

    “I know Jeonghan well enough that I figured with Joshua gone an offer of a meal wouldn’t be refused,” Jun said with a grin.  

    Jeonghan didn’t bother to even pretend to be offended, instead turning to Chan to sing his friend’s praises.  “You won’t believe the food that this man can cook. It’s incredible. And he cooks every type of food as well.”

    “Tonight will be traditional Korean though,” Jun said in an assuring tone to Chan.  “Jeonghan mentioned that you liked fried squid, so I thought that could be the main dish?”

    Chan grinned as he nodded.  “It’s my favorite. Thank you.”

    Jun smiled kindly.  “I like to make food that people will enjoy.  I’ve found that the best way to do that is to stick with their favorites.”

    “He’s the real mom of the apartment building.  Always making sure everyone’s been fed.” Jeonghan teased.  

    Jun grinned right back. “Says the one who tries to adopt everyone.”

    “He does that here too?”  Chan didn’t know whether he should be glad it wasn’t just something that happened at home or be embarrassed that he was actually related to this man.  “He tried to do it with all my friends growing up.”

    “You should see what he’s done to Seokmin.”  Jun commented. “The poor man’s been brainwashed.”

    “That’s not true!”  Jeonghan protested. “I just have a lot of love in my heart that I need to give out to the people I know.”  

    “But then you force them to give you love in return.” Chan shook his head.  

    “He’s very persuasive,”  Jun agreed as he laughed - easily moving around the kitchen as he took out the pans and basic ingredients that he would need to make dinner.  

    Jeonghan scoffed.  “I’ve never forced anyone to do anything in my life.  I’m just very loving, and the kind people in my life - like Seokmin - reciprocate that love.”  

    “They’re all just terrified of going against you, I think,” Chan told Jeonghan as his brother left the room to get changed out of his suit.  

    “So he was always like that,” Jun commented as he started preparing the meal.  While he and Chan did have a little bit of a conversation, Chan was more impressed with the way he moved so smoothly.  Every motion was fast and controlled, and Chan thought that he could easily watch Jun cook all the time. 

    “Impressive, isn’t he,”  Jeonghan commented as he exited his room, looking significantly more comfortable in his casual clothes.  “Joshua’s been trying to get him to work at his restaurant for years, but Jun always says no.” 

    “I like where I am now.”  Jun said. “I like that I’m only making Chinese food.  It reminds me of home; which I wouldn’t get at Joshua’s.”

    “Don’t ever agree.  Joshua won’t complain about it, but I swear, he gets mopey,”  Jeonghan shared conspiratorially. “And those are the few times I get to be judgmental of him.”  

    “You could just give him less reasons to be judgmental of you,” Jun offered, sliding food from the pans onto the plates.  The smell was so enticing that, at this point, Chan was sure that he could only give the basic summary of the conversation since he was so distracted by the food in front of him.

    “Now,” Jun said, adding the final garnishes to the plates.  “Let’s eat.”

***

    Chan didn’t think that late night classes should be a thing.  Classes that are only offered at night really should be outlawed.  He left campus, feeling like he had completely missed the point of the lecture, from “Good evening, class” on was a bit of a blur in his memory.  Hopefully, the textbook would fill in the lecture worth of information he had managed to miss. 

    That reminded him of another thing that shouldn’t exist: professors who lecture straight from the book.  Sure, it might help him in this case, but as a whole, it was rather frustrating. 

    He grabbed his backpack as he exited the car, knowing that if the backpack didn’t come in  with him, none of the studying that he needed to do would actually get done. He was not going to be going back outside again.

    Pulling his sweater tighter around him, he ducked his head as he hurried his way into the apartment complex, wishing he had chosen a coat that morning.  The nice mornings had made him forget what the evening was starting to feel like. It wasn’t quite mid-September, but the early autumn nights were clearly trying to make up for the mild weather during the day; if this is what the autumn wind was going to feel like this year, Chan was hoping they could just skip the winter. 

    He got into the building, fumbling a bit with the key - not wanting to pull hands out of his pockets.  Susceptibility to the cold weather, was, unfortunately, a family trait. He figured it was rather lucky that Joshua didn’t run particularly hot. Between Jeonghan and Chan, the temperature was always going to be kept high in the apartment during  winter. 

    He was finally able to get the key out of his pocket and in the door quickly.  He sighed, feeling the slightly warmer temperature in the building. 

    He started to head to the stairs, not paying much attention as he pulled the door open. However he did pay attention to the man who ended up falling on the ground from where he had apparently been leaning against the door.  

    “I am so sorry,” Chan said as he crouched down; both to help the man up, and to also try to gather up some of the sheets of paper that were now spread out around the guy.  

    The bleached blonde man stared up, somewhat blankly at Chan, before shaking his head and scowling as he looked up at Chan who was trying to avoid his eyes.  Now that the man still hadn’t said anything, Chan was feeling significantly more awkward. 

    He pulled the final papers into a semi-neat bundle and as he stood up, he reached out an arm to pull the man up.  He took it and with a grunt the two were standing. 

    Besides the bleached hair, the other noticeable feature about this man was that he was short.  Very short. Chan wasn’t incredibly tall, but standing next to this man caused him to wonder if this was how Mingyu felt most of the time.  He kept his mouth shut about this though and tried not to let his features crack into a smile. Something about the other man made Chan feel he was pretty perceptive and wouldn’t necessarily have a hard time figuring out what Chan might have been thinking.

    Even with his short height, the guy looked like he could be terrifying.  Besides the surprised look that had graced his features during and right after the fall, the scowl that had shown up right after he landed on the ground had yet to disappear.  Chan had already made a bad first impression on the guy - he really didn’t want to make a worse one. 

    Chan mentally ran through names and stories from those in the building that he had met, hoping that he could figure out who this guy was.  He wasn’t sure if he had ever heard about a terrifying short guy who looked perfectly capable of eating Chan for breakfast, if he was so inclined.  This felt like an important person to talk about. They could have spent less time trying to convince Chan that Seungkwan’s roommate was Hansol Chwe (as if the famous actor would actually be living here, and not some place that was more...Chan wasn’t sure...movie star-y) and warned him about this guy, whoever this guy was.

    “I’m really sorry,” Chan tried again.  Apologizing too much probably couldn’t hurt, right? Chan really wanted to stay on this guy’s good side as much as possible.  Especially after causing him to, well, to literally kiss the floor, so to speak.

    The guy only gave him a look before letting out a sort of grunt and walking away, attention focused on the papers that Chan had shoved back into his hands.  From what Chan could see before the other rounded the stairs to go downstairs, he was reorganizing them. Getting them back into whatever order he wanted. Chan winced, feeling significantly guilty.  

    “Jeonghan, what should I do!  I don’t even know who that was.”  Joshua was currently at work, so Jeonghan had been the only option for Chan to go to for advice.  He would have preferred Joshua, but sometimes you really had to make do.

    After finishing laughing, Jeonghan finally seemed to take things a little more seriously.  “That’s Jihoon. Are you sure we didn’t tell you about him? That really seems like an oversight on our part.”   

    Apparently just because Jeonghan had calmed down, it didn’t mean that he was going to take things seriously.  That was really an oversight on Chan’s part, he shouldn’t have assumed. 

    “It’s okay though,” Jeonghan continued.  “Jihoon’s the type to understand once it’s been explained.  He was probably just sleep deprived. He’s a music producer, so he’s always up at weird hours.  Sometimes he’s on a normal schedule, sometime’s not.” Jeonghan shrugged. “I can call him tomorrow and explain stuff, if you want me too.  Don’t worry about it.”

    Was it cowardice that kept Chan from wanting to meet the grumpy Jihoon again?  Probably. Did that mean he wasn’t going to take Jeonghan up on his offer to contact Jihoon and explain it?  Absolutely not. 

***

    After the disastrous meeting with Jihoon, Chan had been trying to avoid meeting any new people in the apartment.  Well, not necessarily meeting anyone new, if he was being honest. Mainly he was just trying to avoid Jihoon. Even though Jeonghan had promised him multiple times that Jihoon wasn’t holding a grudge, that he had fully accepted the explanation and had most definitely moved on with his life, Chan still felt too embarrassed to even think about running into Jihoon.

    So to keep from running into Jihoon, Chan was just avoiding everyone that he could.  There was absolutely no lingering in the hallways, parking lot or general vicinity of the building.  He was spending most of the time in his room or trying to stay on campus. He didn’t necessarily mind.  He knew that there were still people he hadn’t met - even his final floormate. But that was okay. The four that he had met, Minghao and Mingyu, Seungkwan and Jun, were enough people to know right now.  The others would come with time. 

    Hopefully lots of time.  

    Jeonghan and Joshua both brought that plan to a sudden death when about a week later, Jeonghan dropped a heavy box right on Chan’s bed.  “These were delivered to us by accident. Would you mind taking them over to Wonwoo’s? He’s the author that lives in the single bedroom apartment at the end of the hallway.  I’ve got to run some errands and Joshua’s heading out. We knocked on the door but he’s not answering, and it would be better to give it to him directly.”

    “I’m pretty sure he’s trying to meet a deadline now, so the likelihood of him leaving his apartment is pretty slim,” Joshua explained.  “I did try texting him, but he hasn’t answered.”

    “So run over again in about thirty minutes or so.  Just knock a couple times and if he doesn’t answer, try every hour or so.  Maybe remind him to eat as well,” Jeonghan suggested. “I don’t know how he hasn’t died yet; he can get so focused when he’s working.”

    “Remember thirty minutes,” Jeonghan called five minutes later as he and Joshua exited the building together.  Chan felt like he didn’t even have the chance to refuse. He felt like Joshua and Jeonghan had done that on purpose.  

    Thirty minutes later, after a little pep talk - after all, how much worse could this go than his late night meeting with Jihoon - Chan went to his neighbor’s door.  Another mental pep talk later and he was knocking on the door. 

    There was no answer.  Chan knocked one more time.  No answer again. Chan felt justified in leaving and made sure to tell Jeonghan just that when his older brother texted him. 

    Jeonghan’s response was a reminder to go over in an hour.  What errands were Jeonghan planning on running that was taking so long? The main stores were less than a ten minute drive from the apartment building.  This was definitely a set up. 

    An hour and another pep talk later, Chan was knocking on Wonwoo’s door, fully prepared to leave in about 15 seconds.  

    The door swung open.  In front of him stood a tall man, with messy hair and glasses shoved up his nose.  He looked at Chan for a second before looking down at the box in his hands. Without saying a word beyond a mumbled thanks, he grabbed the box out of Chan’s hands, stepped back, and let the door swing closed behind him. 

    Chan stood in the hallways for a moment before blinking.  Well, that probably could have gone worse. And it wasn’t like Chan had knocked another building resident to the floor this time.  Whatever weirdness had happened was totally not on him. 

***

    Upon finding out that Chan was not some new delivery boy, but one of his floormates, Wonwoo was incredibly apologetic.  At least that’s what Jeonghan told Chan after some texting had cleared up the miscommunication. Chan didn’t mind though, so long as he didn’t assault another member, he was 100% okay with how the situation had turned out.  Plus Jeonghan had cut back on the teasing. Apparently, when it was someone else’s fault, it was no fun to tease Chan. Overall, in the past couple days the entire incident seemed to have blown over.

    A sudden pounding on the door caused Chan to jump a little.  It was early afternoon on a Saturday, so he couldn’t figure out who was at the door - unaware of any plans.  Seeing as both his roommates were out, he didn’t think it was for either of them. He opened the door to see Seungkwan standing out there, another man right behind him.

    “Hey, Seungkwan.  What brings you here?”  Chan didn’t think that he had forgotten any plans, and that was the only reason that he could think that would explain the franticness of the knocking.

    “I was talking to Jeonghan and he told me about your meetings with Jihoon and Wonwoo.”  Seungkwan said, as if that would explain anything. Chan, meanwhile, was slightly frozen.  He had assumed that other people would find out about his two less than ideal meetings, but actually having it confirmed.... Well, that was not a feeling that Chan was enjoying right now.

    “So I thought I would make it better.”  Seungkwan barreled on, stepping into the apartment and gesturing for the man behind to come in.  “This is Seokmin.”

    Seokmin smiled widely, an expression that looked perfectly at home on his face.  “It’s really nice to meet you. Seungkwan’s told me a lot about you.”

    “It was all good, so don’t worry.”  Seungkwan reassured Chan. 

    “We’re not bothering you, are we?”  Seokmin asked after he caught sight of the dining room table covered in Chan’s papers.

    He hurried over, pushing them into a messy pile that he could shove somewhere else.  “It’s just homework,” Chan explained. “I can come back to it at any point.” Seungkwan and Seokmin both nodded knowingly.  

    “Ah, I remember those days,” Seokmin said. 

    “You were an art major.  How much homework was there actually?”  Seungkwan asked.

    “Plenty. Have you ever tried to create an entire piece of art in a weekend?”  Seokmin challenged. “And that’s not even taking into account the papers. Art history and theory classes do exist, you know.  What about you? You’re acting like you didn’t spend most of your assignments talking your way through them.”

    “Class participation should be an important factor in every class,” Seungkwan explained.  “I can’t help that my major actually realized that.” 

    Seokmin rolled his eyes.  “Anytime that you need a break from this,” He gestured to the MC. “Just let me know.  I’ve had a lot of experience wrangling him.” 

      Seungkwan scoffed, offended.  “I am a delight to be around. People don’t get tired of me.”

    “Of course,” Seokmin agreed pleasantly.  He then turned to Chan and mouthed exaggeratedly, “ _ Let me know.” _

    Chan couldn’t help but laugh in response.  There was something about both Seungkwan and Seokmin that made it very easy to relax in their presence.  It was the exact opposite of how his two last meetings with building residents had gone and he was very thankful that Seungkwan had taken the time to bring Seokmin up.  He was sure that it would have taken far longer to meet any more of the residents if he hadn’t been pushed into doing so. 

***

    It was Monday night, and Jeonghan was waiting a little too eagerly by the door.  He was on the couch watching the tv, where he kept glancing between his phone and the door every few minutes. Chan didn’t get any other sense of urgency and Joshua seemed more amused by what was going on, so he figured it was safe not to worry.  

    “Okay, what’s going on?” Just because he wasn’t worried, didn’t mean he wasn’t irritated.  The constant shifting next to him on the couch was getting to be a little distracting. Jeonghan didn’t say anything.  Joshua wasn’t even bothering to hide the wide grin on his face. 

    “Jeonghan’s upset that Seungkwan took it upon himself to introduce you to another resident. He’s trying to even the scale now.”  Joshua replied after it was clear Jeonghan wasn’t going to.

    “That’s not it,” Jeonghan protested.  “I just thought you’d like to met Seungcheol.  He’s kinda cool, after all. He’s a rapper.”

    “That’s actually true,” Joshua conceded.  “He goes by S.Coups on stage though. Off stage, he’s a bit different.”  

    “S.Coups lives in this building too?”  Chan was suddenly just as uninterested in the tv as his brother.  “Who doesn’t live in this building?”

    “I told you this was a nice area,” Jeonghan said as he sat back.  “Who did you think could afford to live here?”

    “I didn’t expect the majority of the people in this building to be  _ celebrities _ ,” Chan shot back.  “I figured most of them would be in business like you.”

    “We don’t have that many celebrities.  I don’t think DK counts. Do artists count as celebrities?”  Jeonghan got distracted on his phone for a little bit. “And Jihoon only produces music, it’s not like he’s performing it either.  Wonwoo, too. I don’t think authors count.”

    “They do when every book they’ve written has been on the best-seller list in at least three different countries, and the majority of them have been turned into movies.”  Chan pointed out.

    “But it’s not like he’s recognizable.  Most people wouldn’t seem him walking down the street and be like, ‘oh, look, that’s Jeon Wonwoo, the author’.”  Jeonghan argued. “He doesn’t count. And Minghao’s a photographer, people wouldn’t really recognize him either.”

    “Jun counts.”  Joshua chimed into the conversation.  “He’s been on cooking shows before, so he’d be a celebrity chef or something.” 

    “Seungkwan and Mingyu both definitely count.”

    “Soonyoung counts too.  Vernon too.” Jeonghan named two of the people Chan had yet to meet.  “That’s only 6. See, not the majority.”

    “I’m pretty sure that everyone you didn’t include still count as celebrities,”  Chan said while Joshua nodded. “Which just proves my point, that everyone in this building except us, are celebrities.  In other words, the majority.”

    Jeonghan took a deep breath, but before he could (undoubtedly) prove his point, there was a light knock on the door.  Jeonghan jumped up to get it and Joshua muffled his laughter somewhat, going back to the paperwork he had spread out around him on the table.

    “Seungcheol, please come in.”  Jeonghan welcomed the man into the room.  He directed him over to the couch where Chan stood up.  “Seungcheol, Chan. Chan, Seungcheol.” 

     Chan had most definitely seen videos of the famous S.Coups performing.  He never thought that he would be meeting the man. However, Joshua had been correct in his earlier assessment.  Even watching the man come in and shake his hand, Chan could see that Seungcheol held himself entirely differently from S.Coups.

    There was still that air of leadership and responsibility, but it was significantly more relaxed.  He also seemed much friendlier when he wasn’t done up in leather, make up, and surrounded by heavy bass.  

    “I’ve heard a lot about you,” S.Coups - no, Seungcheol - said.  “I’m sorry it’s taken so long to meet you. I’ve been a bit busy since right before you moved in, but when Seokmin said that he had already gotten out to meet you, I knew I’d have to get up here soon if I wanted Jeonghan to let me live.”  Seungcheol’s grin was honestly something that probably could have given Seungkwan’s a run for its money on the brightness scale. 

    Chan was also a little blindsided.  When Seokmin had mentioned his two roommates, Seungcheol and Soonyoung, he had never expected Seungcheol to be  _ the _ S.Coups.  A little busy?  The man had just recently had a comeback that had taken the music world by storm.  Chan was surprised the guy had the energy to bother meeting him at all.

    “Well, when you’re not busy, you do come up here a bunch.” Jeonghan explained.  “So it seemed like a good idea for you to meet Chan sooner rather than later.”

    Oh yeah, this was a development Chan could definitely live with.  

***

    Chan would have given a lot of things to not be in this position.  So, it appeared, would Jihoon. The both of them were sitting rather awkwardly across from each other at the kitchen table of Seokmin, Seungcheol and Soonyoung.  

    Soonyoung was the only one who actually seemed comfortable, happily sipping his tea, eating cookies, and managing to keep up a conversation all at the same time.  Chan got the impression that it took a lot to make Soonyoung feel uneasy. It was Soonyoung’s fault...well, idea, Chan corrected himself, that they were all there.

    Chan had come to the realization that everyone and their mothers had found out about his incident with Jihoon in the two or so weeks since it had happened.  And apparently Soonyoung (or so Chan had heard from Seungkwan who had heard it from Seokmin who had heard it from Soonyoung - and to be fair, three times removed isn’t as bad as it could have been) had taken it upon himself to make sure a second, better meeting happened between Chan and Jihoon.

    Chan thought it was very nice of Soonyoung.  It showed a sweet, caring personality who wanted people to get along.  A peacemaker of a sorts. 

    However, there was also the small fact that Chan would not have minded at all if Soonyoung hadn’t gotten involved.  He was more than happy spending the rest of the time he and Jihoon lived in the same apartment building avoiding the other.  They lived on the two floors the farthest apart. And sure, Jihoon lived on the floor with the laundry machines and the common area and the small gym.  However, Chan had a gym at school, who needed a common area anyway, and he could probably have bribed someone to do his laundry for him. 

    Jihoon and Chan made a brief second of even more awkward eye contact before making sure to look away just as quickly.  If there was one consolation it was that Jihoon looked just as disappointed at this turn of events as Chan felt. He had been doing so well so far.  Joshua had taken pity on him and he was already one load of laundry into his plan of never again going to the basement floor.

    “Oh, come on,” Soonyoung finally sighed.  “I can’t carry on the conversation entirely by myself.”

    “You were doing a pretty good job of it,” Jihoon seemed unimpressed with Soonyoung’s complaint as Chan was feeling.  To be fair, he would have been far more sympathetic if Soonyoung had been behind the second meeting with Jihoon. By himself, Soonyoung seemed perfectly pleasant, the type of person that Chan wouldn’t mind spending more time with at all.  Expressive and kind, he reminded Chan a lot of both Seungkwan and Seokmin. (Who, according to most accounts, were very close friends with the exception of serious disagreements over holiday decorating.) 

    Soonyoung rolled his eyes.  “Okay, let’s just get it out of the way.  You’re both embarrassed by what happened. It wasn’t anyone’s faults.  It was late at night. Time to move on.” Jihoon’s cheeks flushed; Chan doubted that he was in any better state.  

    “Better yet, you guys can just pretend that it never happened.”  Soonyoung’s had to pause briefly while he let out a low grunt of pain - Chan wasn’t sure, but he got the feeling that Jihoon might have kicked Soonyoung under the table.  He wasn’t able to cover up his slight smile quick enough and saw an answering one on Jihoon’s face before they both looked away quickly.

    Soonyoung glared at Jihoon.  An expression that looked totally out of place on his face.  “Just introduce yourself to each other and start over.” 

***

    Hansol Chwe.  

    Hansol Chwe was right there.  Sitting at his kitchen table.

    Hansol Chwe - “call me, Vernon” - who was apparently actually Seungkwan’s roommate.

     Though, thinking about it, Chan wasn’t sure why he was so surprised.  Even on the shows he hosted, Seungkwan had often boasted of his friendship with the famous actor.  However, in the month and a half that Chan had been living in the apartment building he had never seen Hans - Vernon, and he had figured that the others were just trying to pull a fast one over on him. 

     After all, Seungkwan was childhood friends so it seemed like a believable story.  But at the same time, actually living in the same building with Hansol Chwe was just a little too much for Chan to have accepted.  So he had subtly tried to figure out the truth when he had been invited to Seungkwan’s (and apparently Hansol Chwe’s) apartment. 

     There had been no pictures and it just seemed rude to ask for a copy of the lease agreement.  

     “So, I’ve been instructed by Seungkwan that when I met you, it was imperative for me to impress on you the importance of you staying on his side.  He said you’d understand.” Vernon, while he seemed a bit confused, but overall appeared used to passing on cryptic messages. Chan nodded, remembering the first conversation he had ever had with Seungkwan.  “However, Jeonghan texted me and apparently thought that Seungkwan might do something like that. So I’m also supposed to tell you that you have to stay on Jeonghan’s side.”

     Chan’s smile felt a little more forced.  Why was his brother like this? Han - Vernon didn’t even know him yet and already was probably going to get the wrong idea based on Jeonghan.  

    “I’m sorry.”  Chan felt it necessary to apologize on his brother’s behalf.  

     Vernon just grinned.  “I’m sure that they’re both to blame.  They both riling each other up entirely too much, even though Jeonghan is easily one of Seungkwan’s favorite people.  I hope my roommate hasn’t caused too much trouble, here.”

     “Oh, not at all.”  Chan was going to ever be grateful for people with easy going and understanding personalities (basically, the opposite of his brother who was going to embarrass him in front of both one of his favorite celebrities in the world and one of the biggest actors in Korea).  They deserved all the good things in the world. “Seungkwan is great.”

      Vernon outright laughed at this.  “He is. But please don’t tell him that.  It will go straight to his head.”

      The conversation came a sudden halt with the sound of a struggle at the door.  Neither one had to time to do anything about it before the door went flying open, both Jeonghan and Seungkwan standing in the doorway, trying to push the other out of the way - Chan didn’t even bother trying to smother the smile at Vernon’s murmured “ _ Speak of the devil” _ . 

     “Channie, don’t listen to anything they say -”

     “Ignore him, Chan.  Please -”

     Vernon turned back to Chan.  “I really hope you didn’t expect a quiet time here.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone!
> 
> I hope everyone enjoyed the start of "Building #17"! I had fun writing it, and am looking forward to sharing the series. Many thanks to Yang and Peacekeeper who edited this for me - you guys rock. (Any problems here are all my own and the result of me waiting until the last possible second to share the document with them) Also, this story wouldn't be here without either of them, so thanks for that too XD
> 
> -Yin


End file.
